This dissertation studies the policy process which produced and implemented the
Integrated Pollution Control (IPC) system in 1990, administered by Her Majesty's
Inspectorate of Pollution (HMIP). It assesses how IPC was implemented in terms of
setting pollution control standards, hQWIPC compares with the air pollution regime it
replaced, and in terms of IPC's policy output.
Policy network concepts are used to analyse the networks of interaction between policy
actors as they seek to influence the policy process. The research involved interviews
with these policy actors, plus analysis of relevant documentation - including a content
analysis of the new IPC public register. The analysis is presented historically, beginning
with the policy network of regulator and industry which negotiated air pollution controls.
Public interest groups criticised this regime in the early 1970s for the informal,
consensual, and confidential way it set and enforced air pollution standards.
During the 1980s, European legislation put pressure upon domestic pollution control
practice. Industry began lobbying for improvements to the flexible British regime as a
bulwark against European formalism. Several factors led to HMJP's creation and IPC
introduction, including European and industrial pressures, but also a belief by
government that change had deregulatory potential.
Regulatory procedures under IPC are more transparent and formal. However, standard
setting was at HMIP's discretion, to be exercised during IPC implementation. HMIP
initially intended to break from the past and do this at arms'length from industry.
Analysis of this implementation stage uses the organic chemicals sector for case study. It
explains why IPC has suffered an 'implementation deficit' compared to HMIP's initial
intentions. Moreover, improvements to industrial pollution control are negotiated in a
policy network similar to its air pollution predecessor. It is argued that within the formal
legal framework, persists an infonnal, consensual, and somewhat opaque pollution
regime.